JPH0317618B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention includes a conveyor and a workpiece transfer device, and the workpiece transfer device receives an unprocessed workpiece from the conveyor and transfers it to the processing section of the headstock, and also processes the workpiece. The present invention relates to a workpiece conveyance device that receives finished workpieces from a processing section of a headstock, returns them to a conveyor, and conveys the workpieces in sequence.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, this type of workpiece conveyance device includes a conveyor for placing and conveying a workpiece, and a workpiece placement device located at the starting end of the conveyor for placing an unprocessed workpiece fed from a work feeder onto the conveyor. , a shutter located at the end of the conveyor for receiving processed workpieces, and a workpiece transfer device located in the middle of the conveyor for delivering unprocessed workpieces to the headstock, receiving processed workpieces, and returning them to the conveyor. Prepared and configured.

By the way, conventionally, it has been common to associate one conveyance device with one headstock.
Therefore, when machining both the front and back sides of a workpiece, after machining one side, the workpiece is turned over and transported to the headstock again using the same transport device, and the other side is machined. It was necessary to perform the processing, or to install two conveyance devices in advance and provide a reversing device between the two devices to sequentially perform the processing on the front surface and the back surface. However, in the former case, 1
Since the work is performed twice using a series of devices, it takes time and effort to supply the workpieces, and the flow of the workpieces is poor, which has a negative effect on other work processes. On the other hand, the latter has the disadvantage that the conveyor is longer as a whole and that it is not easy to change the layout of the conveyor when processing only one side.

As described above, with the conventional conveyance device, it has been difficult to process both sides and one side of a workpiece quickly without changing the layout.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and it is possible to connect a plurality of headstocks with a series of conveyors, to perform double-sided machining and single-sided machining of a workpiece without changing the layout of the conveyor. In the case of machining, the objective is to provide a workpiece conveyance device that can alternately process workpieces on multiple headstocks, greatly improving work efficiency, and that combines the features of both versatility and specialization. .

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention fixes a pallet for placing workpieces at regular intervals in a direction in which the machining axis direction of the workpieces is perpendicular to the conveying direction, and at least one or more pallets corresponding to the constant intervals. an endless work conveyor that conveys the workpieces sequentially or at pitches that are an integer multiple of 2 or more; Near the headstock, which has a grip for machining,
It has two independent work gripping parts that are provided corresponding to the workpiece conveyor and grip an unprocessed workpiece and a processed workpiece, and the workpiece gripping parts are connected to the workpiece of the headstock from the workpiece conveyor side. a rotating device that transfers the workpiece to and from the workpiece gripping portion of the headstock after the workpiece has been rotated to the gripping portion; a plurality of workpiece transfer devices that are arranged to change the direction of the workpiece transfer conveyor and that transfer unprocessed workpieces and processed workpieces between the workpiece transfer conveyor and the workpiece gripping portion of the rotation device; The workpiece is disposed at a substantially intermediate position between the adjacent workpiece transfer devices, grips the workpiece conveyed to the workpiece conveyor, turns it upside down, and places it on the pallet at a pitch-equivalent position on the workpiece conveyor. A reversing device.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the structure of an embodiment of the workpiece conveyance apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof.

The embodiment shown in these figures has two headstocks 710 and 71 arranged at regular intervals on a bed 700.
A conveyor 100 that sequentially conveys workpieces to the conveyor 100, and a workpiece mounting table 200 that is provided at the starting end side of the conveyor 100 and that places the workpieces supplied from the work feeder 600 on the conveyor 100 at regular intervals.
The headstock 71 is located in the middle of the conveyor 100.
Two units are provided corresponding to the conveyor 100 to receive unprocessed workpieces from the main spindle 71.
0, receives the processed work from the headstock 710, and returns it to the conveyor 100.
00, 300 and the two work transfer devices 3 mentioned above.
00,300, the above conveyor 100
A reversing device 400 for reversing a workpiece conveyed by
and a shooter 500, which is located at the terminal end of the conveyor 100 and receives processed workpieces.

The bed 700 is provided with a turning device 720 corresponding to the headstock 710 for transferring a workpiece between the headstock 710 and the workpiece transfer device 300. Additionally, a tool rest 740 mounted on the saddle 730 corresponding to each headstock 710 is provided.
is provided.

The conveyor 100 is composed of, for example, a chain conveyor, and has sprocket wheels 110 at both ends.
110 and is driven by a sprocket wheel 110 connected to a motor 130 (FIG. 2). Pallets 12 are attached to this conveyor 100 at regular intervals. This palette 120
The pallet 120 is used to place and hold workpieces, and by placing the workpieces on this pallet 120, the workpieces can be arranged at constant intervals. The arrangement pitch of the pallets 120 is set to correspond to the pitch between the two work transfer devices 300, 300 and the reversing device 400 located between them. That is, in this embodiment, the workpiece delivery devices 300, 3
If the pitch between 00 and 00 is L, the arrangement pitch of the pallet 120 is set to be L/3. However, the arrangement pitch of the palette 120 is
It is not limited to this.

It is provided above the starting end of the conveyor 100, and is configured as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5. That is, FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views of essential parts of the workpiece mounting device used in this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the holding mechanism in the device.

In these figures, the workpiece mounting device 200 is
It mainly includes a holding mechanism 210 that holds the workpieces fed from the work feeder 600, and an extrusion mechanism 220 that pushes out the held workpieces and places them on the pallet 120 below.

The holding mechanism 210 has three claws 211 that are each supported by a shaft 213 and are rotatable downward. Two of the claws 211 are provided facing each other in the width direction of the conveyor 100, and the remaining one is provided on the work feeder 600 in the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 100.
It is set up facing the These three claws 21
1, 211, and 211 each have an opening 24 at the tip.
In order to properly hold workpieces of various shapes, stepped portions 212 are provided on the inner side of each of the stepped portions 212 with corresponding heights. In addition, each claw 211
is biased by a spring 214 so as not to rotate downward due to the weight of the workpiece and its own weight.

The pressing mechanism 220 provided above the space surrounded by these claws 211 includes a cylinder 221 fixed by a mounting member 230, a piston 222, and a pressure contact piece 223 attached to the tip of the piston 222.
It consists of The pressure contact piece 223 is connected to the claw 211
A step 224 corresponding to the step 224 is provided below. Hydraulic pressure or pneumatic pressure acts on the cylinder 221 in synchronization with the movement of the pallet 120 as the conveyor 100 moves, and pushes down the piston 222.

A transfer device 300 that transfers workpieces between the conveyor 100 and the headstock 710 is configured as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Here, the sixth
The figure is a sectional view of the workpiece delivery device, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the main part of the delivery device viewed from the front side.

There are two work transfer devices 300, but since both have the same configuration, only one will be described. This work delivery device 3
00 includes a horizontal movement mechanism 310 that moves itself in the width direction of the conveyor 100, a turning arm 330 that grips a workpiece and turns 90 degrees, and the arm 3.
30; a hand opening/closing mechanism 340 that opens and closes the hand that grips the workpiece with the arm 330; and an interlock mechanism.

The horizontal movement mechanism 310 is fixed to the bed side by a fixing part 311, and includes a piston 312 provided horizontally beyond the top of the conveyor 100, a cylinder 313 provided horizontally movably in the middle of the piston 312, and A cam follower 314 is provided at the tip of the piston 312 and engages with a piston of a swing drive mechanism 320, which will be described later. The cylinder 313 has its tip connected to a bracket 321 and a cylinder 32 of a swing drive mechanism 320, which will be described later.
2 and move them horizontally. Also,
In this embodiment, a detector 350 constituting an interlock mechanism is attached to the fixing part 311, and is configured to detect the base end of the cylinder 313 and hold the workpiece transfer device at a standby position. There is.

The swing drive mechanism 320 includes a bracket 321 and a cylinder 323 that are connected vertically, and a piston 32 that is mounted inside these so as to be able to move vertically.
2, a rack 324 provided at the lower end of the piston 322, and a shaft 33 of a swing arm 330, which will be described later.
5, and a pinion 325 fixedly attached to the pinion 325, and
An engagement groove 326 that engages with the cam follower 314 is provided in the intermediate portion of the piston 322. The pinion 325 is rotated 90 degrees by the rack 324 which moves up and down as the piston 322 moves up and down, causing the shaft 335 of the swing arm 330 to rotate 90 degrees. That is,
This pinion 325 is connected to the pivot arm 33 when the piston 322 is at the highest position (the state shown in FIG. 6).
When the piston 322 is in the lowest position, the arm 330 is in the horizontal position.

The rotating arm 330 has two hands 33.
1,332 (FIG. 7), and gripping claws 333, 334 provided at the tips thereof. The two hands 331 and 332 are connected via a hand opening/closing mechanism 340, and are also connected to the shaft 335 mentioned above. The gripping claws 333 and 334 are formed in a U-shape and are arranged opposite to each other.
Grip the workpiece W. In addition, the gripping claws 333, 33
The tip of No. 4 is formed diagonally inward to facilitate gripping of the workpiece.

The hand opening/closing mechanism 340 is arranged concentrically with the shaft 335, and the intermediate portion is connected to a piston 341 connected to the hand 331, a cylinder 342 provided at the base end of the piston 341, and the piston 341. The rod 345 is connected to the hand 332 which is not connected to the piston 341 and is disposed parallel to the piston 341, and the swivel joint 347 supplies hydraulic pressure or air pressure to the cylinder 342. Racks 343 and 346 are provided opposite to each other at the tip of the rod 345, and these racks 34
3,346, and a pinion 344 is meshed between the two.

This work transfer device 300 includes a headstock 710
The workpiece is not directly transferred between the two, but is transferred via the turning device 720. FIG. 8 shows the relationship between this turning device, the headstock, and the turret.

As shown in the figure, the swinging device 720 includes two V-shaped arms 721 and 722 each having a workpiece gripping portion 723 and 724 at the tip thereof. The arms 721 and 722 are configured to rotate counterclockwise in the drawing, with the front arm 721 gripping a processed workpiece and the rear arm 722 gripping an unprocessed workpiece. The reason why two arms are provided in this way is to improve the efficiency of attaching and detaching a workpiece to and from the chuck 711 of the headstock 710.

The reversing device 400 located between the work transfer devices 300 and 300 is configured as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. Here, FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a main part of the reversing device used in this embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a front view thereof.

The reversing device 400 shown in these figures includes a workpiece gripping mechanism 420 that grips a workpiece, and a rotation mechanism 410 that rotates the workpiece gripping mechanism 420 by 180 degrees.
and a hand opening/closing mechanism 430 that opens and closes the hand of the gripping mechanism 420.

The rotation mechanism 410 includes a cylinder 411 and a piston 412 mounted inside the cylinder 411.
and two hydraulic or pneumatic passages 417 inside.
It is equipped with a shaft 416 and a hand support member 415 which is rotatably attached to the shaft 416 and supports hands 421 and 422 of a workpiece gripping mechanism 420, which will be described later, via a hand opening/closing mechanism 430. A rack 413 is provided on the piston 412, and the rack 413 is provided on the arm support member 415.
A pinion 414 that meshes with the pinion 13 is provided.

The work gripping mechanism 420 has two hands 4.
21, 422, and gripping claws 423, 424 provided at the tips of each hand 421, 422. The gripping claws 423 and 424 are formed in a U-shape, are arranged in correspondence with each other, and grip the workpiece W.

The hand opening/closing mechanism 430 is fixed to the pistons 431, 432 connected to the two hands 421, 422 and the arm support member 415, and is attached to the base ends of the pistons 431, 432. cylinders 433, 434, racks 435, 436 are provided in the intermediate portions of the pistons 431, 432, and a pinion 437 is provided between these racks 435, 436. .

Note that the cylinder 43 is attached to the shaft 416.
3,434, even if the hand support member 415 rotates, the flow path 417 and these cylinders 43
A groove 418 is provided that maintains communication with No. 3,434.

Further, the work gripping mechanism 420 in this embodiment
The radius of gyration is between the center of the workpiece to be gripped and the axis 416
The distance from the center of is approximately 1/ of the pitch of pallet 120.
It is set to be 2.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to the above figures.

First, in Figures 1 and 2, the conveyor 1
At the same time, the work feeder 600 is activated to start supplying the work.

When the workpiece is supplied, the workpiece mounting device 200
The three claws 211 hold the workpiece by a stepped portion corresponding to the outer diameter of the workpiece. When the pallet 120 comes below, a control device (not shown) applies hydraulic pressure (or air pressure) to the cylinder 221.
is supplied, the piston 222 is pushed down,
The pressure contact piece 223 presses the workpiece. Therefore, the workpiece is moved against each claw 2 against the elasticity of the spring 214.
11 is pushed open to reach the top of the pallet 120 through the opening 240 and to be placed thereon. Thereafter, each claw 211 is urged by the panel 214 to return to its original horizontal state and hold the next workpiece.

By repeating this, works are sequentially placed on the conveyor 100 in pallets 120 at regular intervals.

When the pallet 120 on which the workpieces are placed comes to a predetermined position by the drive of the conveyor 100, the workpiece delivery device 300 operates from a standby state to a workpiece receiving state. That is, hydraulic pressure (or air pressure) is applied to port a of cylinder 323 and port d of cylinder 313. In the following explanation, all hydraulic pressure is used.
When adding , the cylinder 313 first moves to the piston 3
12 in the proximal direction. Then piston 3
22 lowers the rack 324 and rotates the pinion 325, which in turn causes the swing arm 3 to rotate.
30 rotates. Then, when the arm 330 rotates 90 degrees, the gripping claws 333 and 334 are at a position where the work W on the pallet 120 is held between them. At this time, it is assumed that hydraulic pressure is applied to the port e of the cylinder 342 (FIG. 7), and the gripping claws 333 and 334 are in an open state.

Next, when the pressure in port e of cylinder 342 is reduced and the hydraulic pressure is applied to port f to push piston 341 to the right in FIG. The hand 332 approaches. Therefore, the gripping claws 333 and 334 approach each other, press against the circumferential side of the workpiece W, and grip it.

After this, hydraulic pressure is applied to port b of cylinder 323 and port c of cylinder 313. As a result, pressure is applied to the piston 322 and the cylinder 313 at the same time, but the cam follower 314 provided at the tip of the piston 312 is now engaged with the side surface of the piston 322, so the cylinder 313 is prevented from moving. . For this reason, first, piston 3
22 is raised, causing the pivot arm 330 to pivot counterclockwise. When the pivot arm 330 reaches the vertical position, the engagement groove 3 provided in the piston 322
26 and the cam follower 314 engage, and the cylinder 313 becomes movable. The cylinder 31
3 pushes out the swing arm 330 in the direction away from the conveyor 100. FIG. 6 shows this state.

At this time, the turning device 720 turns the arm 722 to keep the grip part 724 on standby at the workpiece W receiving position. Therefore, the cylinder 313
Due to the protrusion of the swing arm 330, the workpiece W
is securely attached to the grip portion 724.

Workpiece delivery device 300 that has finished transferring the workpiece
applies hydraulic pressure to port d of cylinder 313 and retreats toward the conveyor while keeping swing arm 330 vertical. When the base end of the cylinder 313 is detected by the detector 350, the workpiece transfer device is held in a standby state by a lock mechanism (not shown) (for example, using an all-port block center of a hydraulic switching valve). Ru. Note that at this time, the piston 322 is locked by the cam follower 314, so it does not descend. That is, it has an interlock mechanism.

On the other hand, the rotation device 720 has arms 721 and 72.
2 counterclockwise (Fig. 8), first position the gripping part 723 in front of the chuck 711 of the headstock 710, and if there is a processed workpiece in the chuck 711, receive and grip it. urge Then, by turning slightly, the gripping part 724 holding the unprocessed workpiece is positioned in front of the chuck 711, and the workpiece is loaded onto the chuck 711. The rotation device 720 includes an arm 721,
722 clockwise in FIG. 8, and the gripping portion 723 for gripping the processed workpiece is positioned in front of the workpiece delivery device 300 in the above-mentioned standby state.

Next, the cylinder 3 of the workpiece delivery device 300
By applying hydraulic pressure to port c of 13, the swing arm 33
0 protrudes forward from the standby position, and the gripping portion 7
Receive the processed workpiece from 23. Port a of cylinder 323 and port d of cylinder 313
Add hydraulic pressure to. Here, the piston 322 has the engagement groove 326 and the cam follower 314 as described above.
is engaged and interlocked, and does not descend. First, the cylinder 313 is moved backward. When the cylinder 313 is completely retracted, the cam follower 314
is removed from the engagement groove 326, so the piston 322
is descending. As a result, due to the action of rack 324 and pinion 325, pivot arm 330
Rotate 90 degrees clockwise.

In this state, when hydraulic pressure is applied to port e of cylinder 342, hands 331 and 332 move away, gripping claws 333 and 334 separate from the workpiece, and the workpiece is placed on pallet 120. This pallet 120 was empty after the above-mentioned unprocessed workpieces were delivered to the workpiece delivery device 300. Therefore, during this time, the conveyor is stationary.

After returning the processed work to the pallet 120, the work transfer device 300 enters the standby state as described above until the next pallet 120 arrives. Then, when the next pallet 120 arrives, the above-described operation is repeated.

On the other hand, the workpieces returned to the pallet 120 are conveyed on the conveyor 100 and arrive at the reversing device 400. Here, in the reversing device 400 which was in the neutral state, hydraulic pressure is applied to the port g of the cylinder 411, and the rack 413 provided on the piston 412
The pinion 414 rotates as the shaft 4 moves.
The hand support member 415 rotates about the pallet 12 at the front end of the conveyor 120.
The work gripping mechanism 420 grips the work above 0.
position. Note that in this state, the gripping claws 42
3,424 is assumed to be open.

Next, when the hydraulic pressure of the cylinder 433 is released and the hydraulic pressure is applied to the cylinder 434, the hand 4
22 and 421 are the rack 436 and pinion 43
7 and the rack 435, and the gripping claws 423 and 424 grip the workpiece.

After that, when hydraulic pressure is applied to the port h of the cylinder 411 and the rack 413 is moved, the pinion 4
14 rotates the hand support member 415, and the work gripping mechanism 420 rotates 180 degrees. Then, while releasing the hydraulic pressure of the cylinder 434,
When hydraulic pressure is applied to the cylinder 433, the gripping claws 42
3 and 424 are opened, and the gripped workpiece is placed on the pallet 120 in an inverted state. At this time, if the reversal of the reversing device 400 is synchronized with the movement of the conveyor 100, the pallet 120 can be
The workpiece will be placed on the pallet on which it was placed before the reversal.

The reversing device 400 returns to a neutral position, eg, rotated 90 degrees, to pick up the next pallet. On the other hand, the reversed workpiece is conveyed to the next position of the workpiece transfer device 300, transferred to the headstock 710 in exactly the same manner as described above, and returned to the conveyor 100 again after processing.

The above operation example is an example in which both the front and back sides of the workpiece are processed, but when processing only one side of the workpiece, the reversing device 400 is stopped. In addition,
In this case, if the feed pitch of the conveyor 100 is twice that of the above example, (double feed pitch)
As shown in FIG. 11, a first work transfer device 300-1 and a second work transfer device 300-
Since every other pallet 120 is sent alternately, the workpieces on all the pallets 120 can be processed using the two headstocks. This allows machining with twice the normal pitch.

In the above embodiment, a chain conveyor to which pallets are attached is used, but a belt conveyor may also be used. In this case, the workpieces may be placed directly on the belt without using pallets.

Further, in the above embodiment, two workpiece transfer devices are provided, but the number may be three as shown in FIG. 12, or more may be provided.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a workpiece transfer device corresponding to a plurality of headstocks, a reversing device between the workpiece transfer devices, and connects them with a series of conveyors to transfer the workpieces at regular intervals. By adopting the conveyance configuration, the workpiece can be conveyed reliably, and both sides of the workpiece can be processed using a single conveyor, and both side processing and single-side processing can be performed as appropriate without changing the layout of the conveyor. Furthermore, in the case of single-sided machining, the feed pitch of the workpiece can be set to be multiplied by the number of headstocks, so that the workpiece can be alternately sent to each headstock for machining, greatly improving work efficiency. It also has the effect that the conveyance system is extremely flexible, such as being able to convey pitches that are an integral multiple of 2 or more, and sequentially conveying one pitch at a time in both front and back surface processing.

That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize both the characteristics of versatility and exclusive use, which have been difficult in the past, with a single conveyance device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the work transfer device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, and Figs. 3 and 4 are cross sections of essential parts showing the work placement device used in the above embodiment. 5 is a plan view showing the holding mechanism in the device, FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the workpiece transfer device used in the above embodiment, FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the main part of the transfer device seen from the front, and FIG. The figure is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the swivel headstock and the tool rest, No. 9
The figure is a sectional view of the main parts of the reversing device used in the above example, Figure 10 is its front view, Figure 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of pallets in the case of one-sided processing, and Figure 12 is a diagram showing the transfer of three workpieces. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of pallets when the device is provided. 100...Conveyor, 120...Pallet, 2
00...Work placement device, 210...Work holding mechanism, 211...Claw, 220...Press mechanism, 22
1...Cylinder, 222...Piston, 223...
... Pressure welding piece, 300 ... Workpiece delivery device, 310
... Horizontal movement mechanism, 312 ... Piston, 313
... Cylinder, 314 ... Cam follower, 320
...Turning drive mechanism, 321...Bracket, 32
2...Piston, 323...Cylinder, 324...
...Rack, 325...Pinion, 326...Engagement groove, 330...Swivel arm, 331, 332...
Hand, 333, 334...Gripping claw, 340...
Hand opening/closing mechanism, 341...Piston, 342...
...Cylinder, 343, 346...Rack, 344
...Pinion, 400...Reversing device, 410...
Rotating mechanism, 411... cylinder, 412... piston, 413... rack, 414... pinion,
415... Hand support member, 420... Work gripping mechanism, 421, 422... Hand, 423, 4
24...Gripping claw, 430...Hand opening/closing mechanism, 4
31,432... Piston, 433,434...
Cylinder, 435, 436... Rack, 437...
...pinion, 500...shooter, 600...work feeder, 700...bed, 710...headstock, 711...chuck, 720...swivel device, 721,722...arm, 723,724
...grip, 730...saddle, 740...turret.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pallet for placing workpieces at regular intervals in a direction in which the machining axis direction of the workpieces is perpendicular to the conveyance direction is fixed, and at least one or more pitches corresponding to the regular intervals are set. an endless workpiece conveyor that conveys the workpieces sequentially or at a pitch that is an integral multiple of 2 or more; and an endless workpiece conveyor that is arranged along the workpiece conveyor at a position corresponding to the pitch interval that is an integral multiple of 2 or more for processing the workpieces. Two independent workpiece gripping parts are provided near the plurality of headstocks corresponding to the workpiece conveyor and gripping an unprocessed workpiece and a processed workpiece, and the workpiece gripping part a rotating device that transfers the workpiece to and from the workpiece gripping portion of the headstock after the workpiece is rotated from the workpiece conveyor side to the workpiece gripping portion of the headstock; a plurality of screws, which are arranged so as to change direction with respect to the workpieces on the workpiece conveyor, and which transfer unprocessed workpieces and processed workpieces between the workpiece conveyor and the workpiece gripping section of the turning device; A workpiece transfer device is disposed at a substantially intermediate position between the workpiece transfer device adjacent to the workpiece transfer device along the direction of the workpiece transfer conveyor, grips the workpiece transferred onto the workpiece transfer conveyor, turns the workpiece upside down, and transfers the workpiece. A work conveying device comprising: a reversing device that places the pallet on the pallet at a position corresponding to a pitch on a conveyor.